DEATH OF USB & Firewire PORTS, and what USB/Firewire to expect in meanwhile

Current USB standard is increasingly 3.0, not 2.0.

Firewire800, not 400; regardless of all else Firewire is always better for

Video editing as it adds extra commands taylored for video devices control.

For general data USB3 controllers are ALREADY extremely cheap for desktops,

even for laptops - the card is $30 to $40

But why do I say it may die?

I don't mean it will die in a sense like people thought TV will kill radio.

Copper wire is still irreplaceable in many applications, especially

cost-sensitive ones.

But the new era is coming up and I am excited b/c worked with world's BEST

RF-over-Fiberoptic things which cannot detail here due to confidentiality.

Intel is readying cheap fiberoptics to replace your copper/other metal wire

transmission links in USB, Firewire, DisplayPort, and such.

It's called:

"LIGHT PEAK" (name may change once released to market).

As we all expect from Fiberoptics it's main advantages are two:

a) Extreme bandwidth

b) Extreme noise immunity

c) Extremely low loss per unit of length for single-mode, though single-mode

fiber is unlikely to be a cheap commodity anytime soon. I will not explain

here why, as most of you have neither interest nor background in EM Wave

Propagation, I just say - it's expensive to align laser diode to shoot into

fiber precisely. But a typical hope user connects computer peripherals at

such SHORT distances, that multimode fiber is perfectly OK. I guess...

maybe I am talking out of my a$$?

The negatives:

d) Finicky connectors. Do not survive many mating cycles, get dirty easily,

delicate.

e) Cost but this is diminishing.

Eventually something has to be done to replace metal conductors with

lightpaths more & more.

I know it's old news. I remember 1980's and even popular electronics

magazines going hysterical about future Lightwave computers. 30 years later

today we're still far from manufacturing cheap, tiny Lightwave-switched

devices.similar to Semiconductors in current IC chips.

But Intel, is about to offer you this for peripheral connectivity.

I would GUESS first grea tapplication of "Light Peak" techniology is to

connect mass-storage like hard & solid-state drives.

=========================

Stan Starinski

Web: http://www.Interengineers.org http://www.Nanoinfocenter.com Currently OFF for

maintenance

Consulting Engineer (EE+ME, ECAD+MCAD [3D/2D]), R&D + Prototype,

Embedded/Firmware ["C" or ASM for Microcontrollers], computers).

Currently listening:

WKSU3 Classical - Baroque, Classical, Eclectic out of pennState University.

iTunes 160Kbps stream

Currently watching:

HP ZR22W S-IPS panel display via DisplayPort (no more old HDMI!).

On Mon, 24 May 2010 23:21:45 -0500, "Stan Starinski"

<China@stealsUSJobsPatentsSoftwareMusicVideo> wrote:

>Current USB standard is increasingly 3.0, not 2.0.

>Firewire800, not 400; regardless of all else Firewire is always better for

>Video editing as it adds extra commands taylored for video devices control.

>For general data USB3 controllers are ALREADY extremely cheap for desktops,

>even for laptops - the card is $30 to $40

>

>But why do I say it may die?

>I don't mean it will die in a sense like people thought TV will kill radio.

>Copper wire is still irreplaceable in many applications, especially

>cost-sensitive ones.

>

>But the new era is coming up and I am excited b/c worked with world's BEST

>RF-over-Fiberoptic things which cannot detail here due to confidentiality.

>

>Intel is readying cheap fiberoptics to replace your copper/other metal wire

>transmission links in USB, Firewire, DisplayPort, and such.

>

>It's called:

>"LIGHT PEAK" (name may change once released to market).

It tells all about it at

http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm

Part of the article says:

Light Peak Overview

Light Peak is the code-name for a new high-speed optical cable

technology designed to connect your electronic devices to each other.

Light Peak delivers high bandwidth starting at 10Gb/s with the

potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade. At 10Gb/s,

you could transfer a full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30

seconds. Optical technology also allows for smaller connectors and

longer, thinner, and more flexible cables than currently possible.

Light Peak also has the ability to run multiple protocols

simultaneously over a single cable, enabling the technology to connect

devices such as peripherals, displays, disk drives, docking stations,

and more.

Existing electrical cable technology in mainstream computing devices

is approaching practical limits for speed and length, due to

electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and other issues. However, optical

technology, used extensively in data centers and telecom

communications, does not have these limitations since it transmits

data using light instead of electricity. Light Peak brings this

optical technology to mainstream computing and consumer electronic

devices in a cost-effective manner.